


The Grim Shadow

by Jantar



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Airships, Alternate Universe - Magic, Dimension Travel, Gen, Mirrors, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Parallel Universes, Park Seonghwa-centric, Shadow Realm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25154458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jantar/pseuds/Jantar
Summary: It was in that moment, when Seonghwa's eyes were totally captured by the mystery of the mirror, that the shadow suddenly seemed to move, and it was like a melancholic tune started filling the air of the forgotten room. Just in that moment a glimpse of white reflected onto the surface, bright and eerie, like the gentle waves of a white dress dancing behind him.
Relationships: Choi San & Park Seonghwa
Kudos: 3





	The Grim Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my submission for the storyline event, based on some of the prompts. Since the site can be visited only through a vpn, I thought about posting it on here too, just to know what y'all think about it. 
> 
> However, I'll leave the link to my story too, in case someone is able to access and leave a vote (only if you'll like my story, obviously):  
> http://ateez.kqent.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=gevent&wr_id=1706&page=3
> 
> So, let's begin!

There was a small room, in the ancient museum of classical arts, which for a strange connection of peculiar events had been abandoned since years and decades to the carelessness of people.

A small number of sculptures and paintings was on display there, from unknown authors, yet connected by some sort of lyrical style: the smoothness of bodies, majestic stares digging into every man’s soul, the warmth of colors creating the frescos on the walls matching with the representation of rough mythological scenes.

In spite of that ancient treasure of colors and shapes, the negligence had come to a point where even the janitor and the cleaning service refused to work there, until one day they simply forgot.

Dust and dirt had started to cover not only the floor, but also the ancient white marble and the luxurious armchairs placed in front of what had once been a rich fireplace, faraway memory of faraway lives.

Being on the ground floor facing the inner garden, only a few rays of sunshine illuminated the mysterious room, sunk in what seemed like a magic fog freezing the room into an eternal moment.

Nobody talked about it. Nobody seemed to remember, as if cursed by an ancient spell, of the small, desolated room as soon as they left the old baroque building, heading home after long hours immersed among art and history. Nothing, as if a demonic presence could erase every memory of that cold place.

Yet, every single time, Seonghwa remembered.

Almost like a hallucination, he talked about the small room and everyone raised their eyes to the sky, “Ah… Seonghwa, once again? There’s no room like that.” and called him crazy, a daydreamer.

But was he?

Was that sinister room really just a mirage, an illusion created by his mind?

It was half an hour before the closing time, when for the umpteenth time Seonghwa started walking through the labyrinth of rich halls under sumptuous ceilings, heart beating fast as every step brought him closer to the arcane secretes of the obscure room.

Hallways of gold and harmonic canvas were barely visible to him, his mind already lost in the dim room, almost an addiction forcing him to visit its grim atmosphere every time he could.

As soon as the narrow pointed arch leading to the room appeared in front of his eyes, a sudden shiver run through his spine, even before he could step foot on the mosaic floor of that place source of his macabre addiction.

The cold.

Even during torrid, sweltering days, frozen draughts blew from time to time near the artworks, leaving behind a sense of anxiety and arcane fear. However, that wasn’t what kept tormenting his nights, those nights when falling asleep seemed absolutely impossible, tossing and turning like caught up in an oppressive dream.

A tall mirror, hanging on the wall connected to the garden, greeted him as soon as he entered the room, his steps echoing through the silence leaving footprints on the dusty floor. It was one of those old mirrors with an imperfect surface, a little opaque showing reflections as if through a century-old lens.

He waited before moving, feeling almost petrified as the sudden change in the air hit him with full force.

_If only I could know your secrets…_

He waited… and there it was again. The grim shadow barely visible through the opaque surface, like a dark halo with the vague resemblance of a human figure. It was like an ancient rite, as if that mirror was a gate to the outside, to a dimension lost beyond every space and time.

Slowly, Seonghwa crossed the room, stopping just when a pair of steps divided the space between himself and the ancient item.

_What’s your secret, tell me…_

The shadow was still there beyond the surface, as if immersed into the abysses of the sea.

“What are you?”

What was that? A whisper, feeble voice through the cold air, the unintelligible sound…

And a strange force was attracting him towards the mirror, closer and closer, until just a small step was dividing him from the cold surface.

It was in that moment, when Seonghwa's eyes were totally captured by the mystery of the mirror, that the shadow suddenly seemed to move, and it was like a melancholic tune started filling the air of the forgotten room. Just in that moment a glimpse of white reflected onto the surface, bright and eerie, like the gentle waves of a white dress dancing behind him.

He turned to his right following the direction of the reflection, yet nothing seemed to be there, a world still unaltered and unmoving, if not for the fine dust particles slowly twirling at the last rays of sunlight of that spring day.

However, on a more careful look, a glimpse from below caught his attention, and as he lowered his gaze to the ground, there it was… a thin bracelet abandoned onto the faded tiles, silver shining to the weak light. It had never been there before, and it was so peculiar, how a simple object of the everyday life could easily turn into a source of dread, something so alien in a reality made of fables and oneiric dimensions.

Used to the comforting loneliness of the room, his heart suddenly started racing; were there others able to see that forgotten place?

He kneeled to the floor, hand reaching for the item almost hesitantly, as if scared by an unknown magic suddenly saturating the atmosphere inside, and as soon as his fingers lingered on the elegant object, a warm voice cut the tingling air all around him.

“You found it.”

There was a shadow now, just a few feet away from him, and a long white dress grazed the dusty ground, almost floating as if made of haze more than cloth.

It was like the photo of an ancient picture, a woman of arcane beauty frozen in time, long dark hair surrounding marble-like features. Her eyes were so dark, contrasting with the pale complexion, and so deep as if gatekeepers of hidden worlds.

“You found the key.”

Seonghwa shook his head, staring intensely at the unknown woman.

“Keep it close, you may find your destiny.”

Confused by those words, Seonghwa moved his attention to the elegant bracelet, enchanted by its richness.

“Who are you? What…”

However, there was a sudden shift in the air, a whirlwind of white escaping again from his sense.

He turned around with his eyes wide open, gaze lingering on every corner in fear of deception. No one was there, only sculptures austere and judging, silent companions in the late ours of the day.

Just a sweet smell remained, a smell of ferns and wood, of arcane memories of adventurous forests and marvelous journeys to faraway lands.

Seonghwa stood up and started running. Where was she? Where did she escape, so silently through hallways of ancient masterpieces?

“She left. Did you see her?!”

The keeper stared at him in surprise, shaking his head while looking left and right. “Who are you talking about? There’s no one here.”

“She just left from that room, where did she go? You must have seen her.”

“There’s no one here, young man.”

“This is her bracelet. She forgot this.”

The man shrugged once again seemingly annoyed. “Just go home, it’s already late and we’re closing.”

Seonghwa observed in resignation as the keeper turned his back to him. He looked at the room one last time, and then put the thin bracelet into his jeans pocket.

“Maybe she’ll visit again…”

That time, he kept it a secret, hidden among the memories of his mind away from those who judged him in the past.

And then seasons came and months passed, never once breaking his almost alienating routine, until that evening, which was the blackest of the entire winter. No stars but dark, heavy clouds, a silent omen foreseeing a night full of nightmares and thunders.

No visitor remained in the ancient sector of the museum, only a pair of guards before the closure time, and long shadows drew macabre figures on the surface of the smooth wooden floor.

"We're closing in fifteen minutes, kid."

Seonghwa nodded to the old man composedly controlling the hallways, yet he didn't stop and kept walking until he finally reached the unfortunate room.

The mysterious woman with black hair hadn't appear again after that evening of some months before, but it was in that moment, as he entered the room, that he could immediately feel something different that usual, a vibration in the air both sinister and ecstatic, and every shadow seemed to tremble under the influence of a mysterious light coming from outside.

His steps were slow towards the mirror, hesitant almost, like the first times after he discovered the room, because there was this magnetic energy surrounding the place, of which Seonghwa didn't know the source.

Sinking in that unknown feeling, not once the thought of turning back crossed his mind; that place had turned into a curse, a forbidden desire of his mind from which there was no way he could oppose.

Once in front of the opaque surface, Seonghwa took a deep breath, and silently observed, waiting for the shadows to appear as they always did. Yet no shadows painted that translucent canvas that day, and for the first time it only seemed like the inanimate object it was supposed to be.

Defeated by a ravenous curiosity, after long moments of doubt, with trembling limbs he rose his arm towards the mirror. He expected the cold touch of the surface on his fingertips… however, his hand found no resistance.

No material. Nothing.

And while his heart started beating faster and faster against his chest, that was when the dark shape hidden beyond the mirror eventually showed. The defined figure of the woman suddenly appeared replacing the shadow, leaving Seonghwa startled and terrified. Yet he couldn't move, petrified, his eyes trapped on those of the divine creature in front of him.

And it was in that moment that suddenly everything happened, and the whole room around him seemed to crumble and scatter, an intense sensation of emptiness engulfing his stomach. It was a matter of seconds, and almost like following ancient rules of magic, he felt like his whole body had been captured in an endless vortex.

Ultimately, he closed his eyes fighting a strong sensation of nausea, and what he found as soon as he opened them again left him completely astonished. All around him was a darker version of the museum room, as if a negative of that same place had materialized from his inner nightmares and turned to reality.

It was dark and eerie, and the strange absence of vivid colors created that grim atmosphere typical of the oneiric dimension, leaving him lost in a feeling of longing nocturnal dreams.

However, the scene in front of him was what upset him the most, because the alien figure, that he used to contemplate surrounded by shadows, was finally standing in front of him, just like he remembered from that evening he was able to capture her astonishing appearance.

"It was you."

The woman nodded with an elegant movement of his head, and stayed silent while Seonghwa's gaze wandered through the room again.

There was only one thing which differentiated that room from the museum hall: as the same extreme opulence was still evident under layers of dust, a long table was placed right in the center; however, it seemed like a fierce fight had taken place within those walls a long time before. Chairs laid broken all over the place, and a luxurious, huge chandelier had fallen onto the table, pieces of shattered glass covering the floor and every surface, like little droplets shining in the darkness.

And then there was that singular hourglass in the middle of the table, elegant lines enriched by the beautiful carved wood with which it was composed. He expected the grains of sand to be at the bottom, yet for some sort of unknown physical law, they stood anchored at the top.

"Where am I?"

Once again, the woman didn't answer; instead, she turned around almost floating, light steps leading him towards the outside, to a world of the unknown beyond those baroque windows he was used to see, yet now so different at the same time.

Seonghwa eventually followed her, steps hesitant as he uncomfortably walked through ruins and obscure shadows, and observed her movements as she elegantly opened the door to the outside.

His legs almost trembled as a glimpse of what was hidden beyond those walls appeared in front of his eyes, and nothing could have prepared him for what his senses experienced as soon as his feet took the first steps outside that dark negative of the museum hall.

An enormous forest of pines and firs covered what seems like an endless plain, going as far as human eyes could see, branches long, and high up to the sky. Snow covered the ground and every pathway, and small flakes blew into the air in dancing circles, almost following the same identical route again and again in an ancient show of magic.

And then there was that indigo sky, shades of blue fading into purple, crossed by no cloud nor darkness anticipating tempest. From where did the snow originate?

But then it stroked him, that no coldness made his body shiver, and the air, the wind which moved the little flakes, seemed like made of neutral emptiness.

It was like a place lost in time, where no scientific formula seemed to apply. A place where...

"Seconds turn into years, hours turn into centuries. Dreams shatter and crumble against the hollow abyss of these never-ending forests." The woman’s voice felt sweet yet cold, the perfect combination which seemed to rule that world of wonders.

And in the distance, colors lost their meaning into each other; deep blue into obscure green, grains of dust among the branches of bushes and trees. And a mystic mist, shining, reflecting the rays of a faraway star above the skies.

Besides their steps, the only sound was the light rustling of the wind through the narrow paths dividing the woods.

“Everything’s fragile here. The Misty Lands, that’s how they’re called. A multidimensional limbo where lost souls wander."

Seonghwa took some steps forwards, moving from the woman’s side to observe, the whole different world around him, in no way believing his own eyes.

“Some are here to find peace, to find a greater purpose and then leave again. Others are here to forget, to leave past sorrows behind.”

Seonghwa was listening to the woman’s words in fascination. "I've never experienced something like this. It's… beautiful somehow. Unique and melancholic."

Melancholic, like the gentle and barely perceptible tune that seemed to fill the hollow air of that world, as if it could be the sound of the whole universe moving with its galaxies and stars, a tune whose origin was as mysterious as every single element around him.

"Do you see that path, hiding among the high trees?"

Seonghwa followed the line traced by the woman’s hand, contemplating the new incredible landscape.

"That path leads through a long, long journey, towards a high mountain whose end you can’t see. It goes higher and higher, lost among fogs and heavy clouds. It’s only for those who are willing to leave everything behind, to follow a different destiny, to find the treasure that will reveal one’s deepest dream.”

Slowly, he took some steps towards that direction, looking at that lonely mountain raising towards the infinite skies.

How could that woman know so much?

“Why are you saying these things to me? Who are you?”

He waited, but no answer came from behind, and so he realized that he was alone again.

There was still that bracelet hidden inside of his pocket, and somehow Seonghwa felt like that was his connection back to the human’s world. Nevertheless, he didn’t try to use it, choosing instead to walk along those lonely paths through the forest, slowly but steadily towards the mountain that never seemed to get closer.

He didn’t know how much time he spent walking through the roads of that world. In all honestly, he had no idea if to talk about time could even make sense in a place like that.

His mind was full of confused thoughts, because he was lost in the middle of the unknown, without knowing what to do, yet not wanting to return to the world where he belonged, and it was in the middle of those long internal monologues that suddenly something distracted him, like a noise of steps that came from behind. Seonghwa immediately stopped, senses on the alert ready to catch every single mutation of his surroundings; however, no sound was to be heard, aside from the rustling of the wind against the branches of the trees.

He had just decided to keep walking, when all of a sudden a hand wrapped around his wrist, and before he knew what was happening, he found himself against the ground hidden behind voluminous bushes.

“Who are you, what are you doing??”

A young man was right beside him, and he was animatedly trying to hush him gesturing with his finger to remain quiet.

“What are you…”

“Shh.”

Given the apparent good intentions of the boy, Seonghwa finally surrendered, and just some seconds after that brief exchange, a dark shadow moved past them, disappearing through the woods just as it had come out of it.

The man beside him took a sigh of relief, eventually standing up and cleaning his clothes from some snow.

“It’s San by the way… my name is San. And that was really close, glad I was here at the right time.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you see that thing running in front of us? That was your shadow, your deepest sorrows and scars chasing you, to take over you again.”

Seonghwa raised one eyebrow, throwing concerned looks all around them. “That sounds eerie. I’m Seonghwa, by the way.”

“Because that’s quite the case, Seonghwa. Come on, follow me.”

After some seconds of hesitation, Seonghwa eventually decided to follow the man along another narrow path leading through the forest. After all, if destiny had brought him to that bizarre place, maybe meeting San was part of the plan too.

They walked in silence side by side, the snow continuously falling from the dark sky and always fading before reaching the ground, and not too long passed before a wooden house appeared in front of them almost completely hidden among high trees.

“Here, let’s go. The shadows can’t reach us, the house is guarded by magic.”

Thus San invited him inside, and they both sat at a small table next to the only window of the room.

“I’d offer you something to drink, but it’s not that we need it here, since… you know, time has stopped in this place.”

Seonghwa nodded calmly, taking a look at the cozy interior of the house.

"It has always been like this.”, began San, “As if a person had once lived here as I am now, and used their time to build this tiny warm house. It feels intimate in a way, even if there's nothing there which belongs to me. There are even some clothes, and beautiful animals carved into wood."

“It’s quite contrasting to the outside.”

“Yes, but even though I love this place, I came here only for a little deviation, because I’m waiting…”

“What for? If I may ask…”

San smiled, his eyes observing the nature outside the window. “A new beginning awaits me, I’ll leave these forests, to go to a place where no one has ever been. To find my right place in this universe of endless possibilities.”

“You still don’t have a destination, right? You talk like someone who’s gonna start an adventure.”

“You’re right.” San smiled again, and this time it reached his eyes.

“You can come with me. You seem to be searching for something different too.”

Pensively, Seonghwa felt the lines of the bracelet through the texture of his jeans.

What did he really want?

There was nothing left back home, only oppressive emptiness and lack of purpose. How many people had left him, how many emotions remained broken within the pits of his memory…

“But I’ll let you know, that others will join us. Or… it would be better to say that we will join them.”

“I’d gladly join too.”

“Perfect. There’s a ship waiting for us, right where this woods end.”

“A ship?”

“Yes. We will sail the skies, up to other dimensions and endless possibilities. We’ll reach the peak of the mountain, we’ll go even far beyond!”

It was just like that that they left together, as easy as the water flowing from above, as the rays of sunshine defeating darkness, and so comfortable along the road which lead to the forest’s borders, heart filled with the desire of a new beginning.

“Why are you here, San?”

The man sighed shaking his shoulders. "I just left. Sick of anguish, sick of monotony and that constant boredom that filled my life. And I just jumped, I left the car before I could reach my destination, and after hours of wandering, suddenly there was this little door in front of me. It was a shop named The Rosengarten. Oh man, that wasn’t a common shop… long story short, it was that place that lured me into this world.”

And then he started talking about the infinite lands awaiting to be explored, about his lost dreams and new ones, and then the shadows perpetually haunting them, shadows born from their past, the last remaining of their life in the human dimension.

“It just feels like my ego shattered, that’s scary and somehow a relief at the same time… Maybe someone would say that we’re just escaping. Actually, I think that’s more about creating something new, having the courage to leave behind what makes us suffer.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean… oh, look, here we are.” San suddenly stopped, his hand pointing at the horizon.

Seonghwa’s eyes followed the given direction, and there he could already see, from the last rows of trees, other six men sitting in front of the burning sky, an elegant airship docked in front of what seemed like calm shores, and was instead a huge cliff, a dive into the unknown.

“Every one of them has different motivations, different stories to tell, just like you and me. However, all of them want one thing: to seek for the unthinkable.”

“Let’s go then.”

And how bizarre it all had been, since that first time he had entered that small enchanted room in the local museum.

Maybe that woman was some kind of goddess, the gatekeeper of a multitude of worlds, offering her help to those who needed it the most.

What was she? The touch of the moonlight, the glimpse of a dimension forbidden to humans, like a dancing wave through the shadows of lands and time. She was the connection of lost souls to their deepest dreams.

And the eight of them were now within dimensions, beyond the line of time and knowledge, and it felt like the edge of the world was waiting for them, while looking at the golden horizon fading into deep blue skies.

Their past selves were still chasing them, black shadows threatening their long journey, yet Seonghwa knew, that nothing comes without a price.

And after all, nothing more was needed, just sailing the skies to a no man's land, to an island of peace. A safe haven of forevers.

No one knew if something like that even existed, but none of them really cared, as long as the adventure nourished that warm feeling of being alive again.

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are!  
> I'd love to know that someone will eventually appreciate this story, since it was quite a long time that I had the first thought about writing this (the contest just gave me some more motivation the actually finish it). Please, let me know what you think here or on twitter (@/helytes).
> 
> Please have a good day everyone and see ya soon!


End file.
